Following a successful beta period which saw 24,000 sign-ups, New York-based startup Instinct has just launched its first product to the public…an interactive guitar-tuition Web app.

The Next Web gave the app a test-strum ahead of today’s roll-out and, well, it’s certainly an impressive offering.

How it works

In keeping with the app’s ‘fun’ credentials, you’re able to select an avatar to accompany your profile when you first create your account.

When you first launch into the courses section, you’ll see eight different levels, each designed to help you progress as a guitarist.

Assuming you’re a beginner, you’ll likely want to start on the first one…Amazing Grace. It’s worth noting here that when we say ‘beginner’, we mean ‘beginner’. This level is literally for those who’ve never touched a guitar in their lives, dealing with open strings and very simple fretboard-fingering.

Before you launch into the first lesson, however, you will be asked whether you want to use a real guitar, or a virtual one.

The virtual axe is neat, you glide your cursor across each string and it works perfectly…however, if you really want to learn to play, you’ll want to opt for the real one.

When you do so, you’ll be asked to give permission for the app to access the microphone on your computer…it needs this so it can hear you play.

The final step before you start playing is to ensure your guitar is in-tune. If you normally just opt for relative tuning rather than ensuing it’s ‘in key’, you’ll need to make sure it’s in standard E tuning. You can either do that yourself with a guitar tuner, or you can use Instinct’s in-built tool…which is pretty easy to use.

It’s at this point I realized that it’s pitch detection was spot-on. While I normally opt for relative tuning, meaning that I never really know what key it’s in, I managed to get this in the right key in about 30 seconds.

Now, you’re ready to learn.

Each song is broken down into ‘parts’, the idea being that it will be easier (and less daunting) if you focus on smaller, more palatable chunks.

Each note is highlighted on the corresponding string and fret…and as with standard tablature, ‘0’ represents an open string, and a number means which fret should should place your finger on. The accurate pitch-detection technology means it won’t progress you to the next note until you actually play the correct note in the correct key.

At any point, you can go back to the main courses page, the tuner, settings, profile or logout, by going to the drop-down menu at the top right-hand corner.

If you’re already a little savvy on the guitar, you can choose to skip as many stages as you like…all the way up to 12 Bar Blues.

It’s also worth mentioning the leaderboard…that’s right, Instinct brings a gamification element to the learning process, letting you pit your wits up against other players with your guitar exploits.

The path to Instinct

The idea for Instinct came about after Blake Jennelle struggled to learn guitar, after which he consulted friend Brian Stoner, which finally led to them founding Instinct.

“Our goal is to make playing the guitar as easy it looks,” says Jennelle, Co-Founder and CEO of Instinct. “It’s an instrument that anyone can play, and it shouldn’t be a struggle.”

Jennelle notes that all of Instinct’s core technology is homemade, including its pitch detection technology, animated guitarist, and teaching algorithms. The whole premise is to make guitar learning as easy as possible.

“Instinct works with any guitar, acoustic or electric,” says Jennelle. “There’s no special equipment, cables or software. You just play your guitar and Instinct listens through your computer’s built-in microphone. The entire experience happens inside your Web browser.”

For its public launch, Instinct will also be adding a holiday course with songs such as Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and The Nutcracker.

In the long term, Instinct is aiming to become a global community for music learning. “Music is fundamentally social, it’s something you want to do with your friends,” adds Jennelle. “If you’re successful right away, and if it’s fun, you’ll stick with it. And that means you’ll continue to be successful.”